As with everything McLorin Salvant releases, MÉLUSINE is an interrogation of music’s capacity to tell all of our truths – the ones we know and the ones we don’t, a journey told through her singular voice across centuries and languages:
The new album’s songs tell the story of the European folkloric legend of Mélusine, a woman who turns into a half-snake each Saturday as a result of a childhood curse by her mother. Mélusine later agrees to marry Raymondin on the condition that he never see her on Saturdays. He agrees but is ultimately convinced by his brother to break his promise, piercing his wife’s door with his sword and finding her naked in the bath, half snake, half woman. When she catches him spying on her, she turns into a dragon and flies out the window, only to reappear every time one of her descendants is on their deathbed.
Vinyl duly ordered. So very, very good.